Star Wars- Two trilogies, opposing results

To be honest I was thinking about writing about the Boxing controversy but I think everyone has been saturated with this shameful debacle that I thought it would be too boring, same goes for the news of the ’Sun On Sunday’. In truth I was meant to write a similar blog entry like this last week but other news was more important.

A long time ago in decades not too far in the past (well about 3 decades ago to be precise) Star Wars movies were still respectable and the franchise was just a franchise and not an entire industry. There is no doubt the first two and half films of the original trilogy were for their time the most groundbreaking, they set the benchmark and gave birth to what you may call the modern Blockbuster, to this day they are still entertaining and still very few films have matched them.

Whenever I see the 20th century Fox logo immediately think of the legendary opening theme of all the Star Wars films, it’s right up there with Superman and 007. But with the newly released 3D version of the awful Pantom Menace (the first of the prequel releases), and the fact that year on year 3D releases of the others are happening. Not only in my opinion is this rather disgraceful money making on the part of George Lucas but an indicment of everything that Star Wars has become, it’s constant infestation of our culture.
I will focus entirely on the films themselves and ignore the other things attached to it such as the videogames books, and anything to do with The Clone Wars.

In a way the start of the it’s downfall came in the second half of the ‘The Return of the Jedi’ with the introduction of the Ewoks (a ploy to create a new toy range and a film, which they did). Aside from the unveiling of Darth Vader’s face and Princess Leia in her bikini it was very disappointing compared with the previous two that were far superior. And lets not forget the 1978 Christmas special (which was so bad it only aired once and Lucas bought out all the VHS tapes).

If the first two and a half of the original Star Wars trilogy were excellent, the last two and a half of the new triolgy ranged from truly dreadful to ponderous boredom, (the last half of ‘The Revenge of the Sith, as we see Anakin Skywalker change into Darth Vader are very satisfying, and for a very very short amount of time you realise why it was so so important to go back in the story).

Aside from the visual effects and story telling If there is one thing the original trilogy thrived on, it was the superb casting and range of characters. Despite being set in a fictional world they were characters intantly iconic, has there ever been a character as kool as Han Solo? Has there ever been a villain as menacing as Darth Vader? Is there anything that compares with the Millenium Falcon? (perhaps the Enterprise from Star Trek) And let’s not forget Bobba Fett. My favourite character was C3PO (don’t ask).

When it comes to the prequel trilogy I can only think of two characters that are memorable, and both are villains. The much under used Darth Maul and general Grievous. Who would have thought The portrayal of Anakin Skywalker for two and half of the films is poor, for most of the time he acts like a spoilt brat, although his transition at the end is well executed to be fair.

The newer trilogy also gave us without doubt not only the series worst character but one of the worst sci fi characters ever made, Jar Jar Binks (its no coincidence that he rarely featured after The Phantom Menace). Natalie Portman is great eye candy and she fulfills her role as Padme Amidala.

Despite the groundbreaking and overload of visual effects, and the fact that they are Science fiction movie the original trilogy felt real because it used real sets and locations (who can ever forget that moment when we see the three moons on the horizon of Tattooine beyond the figure of Luke Skywalker). This is not the case for the most part in the prequels, for most of the time the locations are drawn from green screen, no doubt we can argue that this only comes with the advancement of technology but there is just too much of it, the pod racing scene and Obi Wan’s battle with Jango Fett are perfect examples of this.

But there is also the tedious spoofs and cultural references that Star Wars has inflicted on this, to this day I am surprised why Darth Vader was ever allowed to appear in a Tunes Advert, let alone PC world. I don’t know about you but when i watch a film I always like to imagine that they do exist, somewhere too far out of reach, even if they are fictional characters on celluloid film. It is only so much exposure they can have before they become figures of fun.

With the possibility of another trilogy wishful thinking, and something I beleive should never be considered. With all that aside I do hope that we one day see a live action Televison series Star Wars:Uncerworld which has been spoken about for a number of years, it would be ncie to see the franchise head into a new direction, to repair some of the mistakes of the newer films as I have stated. Instead of looking back on the past, Star Wars should be moving forward, for the benefit of its massive and loyal fanbase.